Dynaverse.net
Taldrenites => Dynaverse II Experiences => Topic started by: Skaren on May 31, 2006, 06:05:57 pm
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So now having sorta played in a Dynaverse game (yes Dax only a little :) but none the less, participated from the get go. I had a few thoughts I wanted to share and hoped for feedback from some of you.
I am going to go back to the map size topic.
I am curious why all the Dynaverse maps are really large, well actually they are huge! The only one I have noticed scaled down is the UAW map, by Chris Jones, (coincidently he is a genius, so think about that :).
Back in the day I have heard that there were 20, 30, even more players on at a time. Maybe large maps were better then. I have noticed that in today Dyna I see average 7-15 players on a good night. So I am wondering what is the advantage of huge maps in todays gaming world.
I am going to say that with huge maps I can rarely (others say so too) find anyone to PVP with. Also the hex flippers must look at a border and go well this is one hex of 30 and I am alone trying to make a difference with my dedication. In both instances I feel a smaller map would bring greater enjoyment to both playing styles.
I would like someone to explain to me why the crazy large maps are advantageous to the enjoyment of the game.
When I look at sitting down to flip hexes and I see I am the only player on, plus I need to run like 10 AI battles to bring a hex to 0 defense, I get discouraged before I have even begun to fight. Plus like 10 more AI battles to up the defense,... come on,.... Is it me ? we are all different in our gaming style, and that is fine. But do others of you feel like I do?
What would the disadvantages of a much smaller map be?
I can quickly come up with several advantages. I have run dozens of campaigns in my day (not Dyna) and I have learned map size is critical to be matched with player size.
Being new I am challenging players to discuss this, in particular the Admins who set up the game. Also has this ever been tried before - a greatly scaled down campaign map. Has it been tested, as to what the results are ?
Call me crazy, call me baked, but it just seems so natural to my way of thinking, I know I must be missing something.
The glove is thrown :)
PS
Hey You !
My prayers still go out to you, and you know who you are !
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Ok,.. ok
Large maps it is
;)
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Uhmm first of all, anything you actually want an opinion on usually takes 2-3 days, not the 1.5 hours you left
(we really don't have alot of people hanging around anymore)
As for the maps- they can be any size, the Pirate one was big because HB wanted to show the entire area covered by SFB
You can really only make the empires/territories so small before it becomes pointless.
Then you have to consider mission times that can be run.
(forgive the stereotype but) the Kzin DF can run missions in about 1:30-2:00 (minutes, maybe faster dunno) in 63
(first year any server will likely start) Lyran ships (for example) would likely run missions in the 3 minute area in the same year.
(both depending of course on setup/number of AI, Ai race etc)
Given that the Kzin can likely run 3 missions for every 2 the Lyrans can run, and quite possibly 2 for every 1; you can (hopefully) see how small maps would magnify this problem.
Also maps have to be designed both for those who like PVP, and those who prefer to help their side by flipping hexes.
So the map has to be big enough so that PVP can't dominate the whole thing.
Really if you want to fight PVP you can (usually) call out people on the other side.
This (of course) doesn't mean that they have to fight you, but often someone is looking for a fight and they'll meet you somewhere.
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I like large maps, albeit the dyna population doesn't support the huge one foun on say Artic Fire, but I like them. Large maps are great for strategy, if everyone is fighting over the same few hexes it becomes like a GSA match, something which some enjoy, but I don't really get into. When you can open a second front it should be more than 2 hexes away, descisions such as deployment of pilots/assets and diversions start to become realistic options with bigger maps. Deepstriking becomes more of a challange as well as anyone can go 5 hexes behind the lines, but 25 hexes deep?
Now I think that maps in mission were a bit too large fir Econ Wars, making run downs more difficult as well as making a delay of over 2 minutes on those bugged missions where you have to fly off the map. Strategically, however, I feel that big maps do have advantages which out weigh the disadvantages although the days of the "Artic Fire" maps are sadly gone.
FYI the artic fire map was about 4 times as big as that found on Econ Wars, at least i think so.
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4 times as large !! Holy Cow Batman !!
I wish I had been around at the peak of things !
Well thanks for the feedback.
I was mostly curious if anyone else had tried smaller maps and what the impact was.
PS after finding out how bad a flyer I am,... I kinda like hex flipping more now anyways :)
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Check out The Forge - it's not a huge map..
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Smaller maps have been used on several servers. Now, most of those servers were for the General War series of servers where you usually only had 3 (maybe 4) empires being used. Also, most of the hex DVs were low (mostly 10) until you reached hexes which included starbases or core worlds. Some core world hexes were at DV 50 in the early GW servers, but were scaled back to DV 25 when the assault missions were toughened.
These GW servers were slug-fests. Usually one area had concentrated PvP at all times. You could try some flanking maneuvers, but since the borders were no more than 15-20 hexes long those were shut down relatively fast. The whole map size was 1/3 - 1/2 of what was used for the pirate server.
The GW servers were good for what they were, highlighting certain parts of the General War where smaller type campaign maps could be used. Not everyone liked those maps (no surprise) but the overall success of the series was very good. Since then, most servers have been the bigger maps allowing for more strategical movements and not be a concentrated front war.
Hope that helps.
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Yes it does. I don't plan on ever running something like that, I was mostly just curious what the effect of it was on the play and wondered what the players thought of it.
Thanks.
I miss all the fun banter about Econ War !
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anytime you want some training Skaren, just message me and FSD guys, I am sure we can get you some more training in the coffin of your choice. ;D